Some Noble Sisters

Name: Some Noble Sisters
Author: Lee, Edmund
Lee, Edmund
Sisters -- Biography; Women -- Biography
The desert-dwellers at his beck shall bend,
      His foes then suppliant at his feet shall fling,
    The kings of Tharsis homage-gifts shall send;
      So Seba, Saba, ev'ry island king.
                 Nay all, ev'n all,
                 Shall prostrate fall,
               That crowns and sceptres wear:
                 And all that stand
                 At their command,
               That crowns and sceptres bear.

    For he shall hear the poor when they complain,
      And lend them help, who helpless are oppress'd:
    His mercy shall the needy sort sustain;
      His force shall free their lives that live distress'd.
                 From hidden sleight,
                 From open might,
               He shall their souls redeem:
                 His tender eyes
                 Shall highly prize,
               And dear their blood esteem.

    So shall he long, so shall he happy live;
      Health shall abound, and wealth shall never want:
    They gold to him, Arabia gold, shall give,
      Which scantness dear, and dearness maketh scant.
                 They still shall pray
                 That still he may
               So live, and flourish so:
                 Without his praise,
                 No nights, no days,
               Shall passport have to go.

    Look how the woods, whose interlacèd trees,
      Spread friendly arms each other to embrace,
    Join at the head, though distant at the knees,
      Waving with wind, and lording on the place;
                 So woods of corn
                 By mountains borne
               Shall on their shoulders wave:
                 And men shall pass
                 The numerous grass,
               Such store each town shall have.

    Look how the sun, so shall his name remain;
      As that in light, so this in glory one:
    All glories this, as that all lights shall stain:
      Nor that shall fail, nor this be overthrown.
                 The dwellers all
                 Of earthly ball
               In him shall hold them blest:
                 As one that is
                 Of perfect bliss,
               A pattern to the rest.

    O God who art--from whom all beings be;
      Eternal Lord, whom Jacob's stock adore,
    And wondrous works are done by only Thee,
      Blessed be Thou, most blessed evermore.
                 And let Thy name,
                 Thy glorious fame,
               No end of blessing know:
                 Let all this round
                 Thy honour sound,
               So Lord, O be it so!


    PSALM 139.

    O Lord, in me there lieth naught,
      But to Thy search revealèd lies:
          For when I sit
          Thou markest it:
      No less than notest when I rise.
    Yea, closest closet of my thought
      Hath open windows to Thine eyes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Some Noble Sisters

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